Taupo Airport (

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

: ''Te Papa Waka Rererangi o Taupō'', ) is a small airport to the south of

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town on the north-eastern shore of Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake, in the central North Island. It is the largest urban area of the Taupō District, and the second-largest urban area in the Wai ...

township on the eastern shores of

Lake Taupō Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; mi, Taupō-nui-a-Tia or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's nor ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Scheduled flights are operated by

Air New Zealand Link Air New Zealand Link was a brand name under which Air New Zealand's subsidiary regional airlines operated flights. They primarily connected regional centres with New Zealand's three main international airports, Auckland Airport, Wellington Inter ...

, using Bombardier DHC-8-Q300 from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, and

Sounds Air Sounds Air is a New Zealand airline based at Picton. The airline was founded in 1986 by Cliff and Diane Marchant to provide low cost flights to the Marlborough Sounds. The airline has a maintenance facility at Omaka aerodrome with its Soun ...

, operating from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

using

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft, manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland, since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in ad ...

. The airport is a popular destination for private jets, due to its close proximity to trout fishing, golf, hunting, skiing and luxury resorts. A number of small charter and training operations are also based here along with maintenance providers and a large search and rescue facility. Taupo Airport is the busiest

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

drop zone A drop zone (DZ) is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes. In ...

in New Zealand. Prior to the

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there were two commercial

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companies operating from the airport, however one has since gone out of business as a result.

Airlines and destinations

Operational information

*Airfield elevation 1335 ft

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

*Runway 17/35, 1386 x 30 metres sealed *Runway 10/28, 670 x 32 metres grass *Runway lighting available *Pavement strength PCN 26 is advisory only *Traffic circuit: RWY 11/17 — right hand RWY 29/35 — left hand **Circuit height: 2300 ft AMSL *RWY 10 is not available for takeoff *Grass parallel to Rwy 17/35 closed take-off and landing Taupo Airport is located within a ''Mandatory Broadcast Zone'' (MBZ) in uncontrolled (G) airspace with type C airspace starting at 6500 ft AMSL and controlled by Christchurch Control. Taupo Airport is the second-busiest

non-towered airport In aviation, a non-towered airport is an airport without a control tower, or air traffic control (ATC) unit. The vast majority of the world's airports are non-towered. In the United States, there are close to 20,000 non-towered airports compared ...

in New Zealand.

2020 Taupō Airport re-development

Funded from Provincial Growth Fund, New Zealand Upgrade Programme and also the Taupō District Council, the project is expected to begin in March 2020 and be complete by October 2021. The re-development will see a new terminal built that caters to the increase in traveller movements. The apron size will also be increased once the old terminal has been removed, which will make room for more aircraft parking. A new car park will also be developed within the airport.

Operators

*Helicopter Services (BOP) Ltd *Heli Maintenance (BOP) Ltd *Lakeview Helicopters *Philips Search and Rescue Trust *Rotor and Wing Maintenance *Taupo Tandem Skydiving *Chopperworks *Super Air *Argus Aviation *Helisika

References

Sources

NZAIP Volume 4 AD

External links

*
TDC Airport re-development press release
Airports in New Zealand Taupō Buildings and structures in the Taupo District Transport buildings and structures in Waikato {{NewZealand-airport-stub